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Amazing Science Tricks with Common Household Items

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Using common objects around the house, you can demonstrate cool scientific laws. Here’s how:


Keeping Water Separate

keepingwatersep1.jpgFill two identical glasses with water. Add two tablespoons of salt to the water in one glass and stir well. Add a few drops of food coloring to the water in the other glass.

Cover the glass containing the colored water with a sheet of paper, turn it upside down and place it on top of the glass containing salt water. (Be sure to do this trick over a saucer or bowl.)

Gently pull the paper out from between the glasses. The colored water and the salt water will remain separate.

 

keepingwatersep2.jpgHow Does It Work?

Salt water is heavier than colored water, so the two stay separate as long as the boundary between them isn’t disturbed. Try turning the two glasses over, though. The heavier salt water will now be on top, so it will flow down and mix with the colored water.


A Can That Can “Walk”

walkingcanjb2.jpgPlace an empty aluminum can on its side on the floor. Blow up a balloon and tie a knot in the end. Rub a tissue back and forth on the balloon.

When you put the balloon near the can, the can will start rolling toward the balloon.

How Does It Work?

When you rub the balloon with a tissue, the balloon gets a negative electric charge of several thousand volts. When you put the balloon near the can, electrostatic induction affects the molecules in the metal. The outside of the can gets a positive charge, so it is drawn toward the balloon and starts rolling in that direction.


A Candle That Sucks Water

candlethatsuckswater1.jpgPlace a candle upright in the middle of a saucer. Fill the saucer with water. Light the candle. Place a glass over the candle. When the flame goes out, the water in the saucer will get sucked into the glass.

 

candlethatsuckswater2.jpgHow Does It Work?

When the candle is burning inside the glass, the heat makes the air expand, so some of the air escapes outside the glass. The candle goes out after it uses up all the oxygen, so the air inside the glass cools. As it cools, the pressure inside the glass drops. Some of the carbon dioxide formed by the flame dissolves in the water as well, decreasing the pressure even more. The water outside the glass on the saucer is forced into the glass by the higher aire pressure outside.


A Flying Trash Bag

flyingtrashbag1jb2.jpgHold the mouth of a black trash bag in one hand. Use a hair dryer to blow hot air into the bag.

Seal the mouth of the bag with tape. Tie a long piece of string around the tape so you can hold it. Take the bag out into the sun. The bag will rise slowly into the air. (It’s best to do this trick in an open area on a windless day.)

 

flyingtrashbagjb2.jpgHow Does It Work?

Since the bag is black, it absorbs heat from the sun. That heat makes the air inside the bag expand and become lighter. When the bag and the air inside are lighter than the surrounding air, the bag starts to rise.


Bending Light Through Water

bendinglight1jb2.jpgPunch a hole in a clear plastic bottle two inches from the bottom. Put your finger over the hole, fill the bottle with water and cap it to keep it from draining out.

Darken the room and cover part of a flashlight with your fingers to make the beam narrower. When you take the cap off the bottle, the water will flow out in an arc. Shine the flashlight at the stream from the side of the bottle opposite the hole. The light will bend with the arc and create a bright glow where the water hits the sink.

 

bendinglight2jb2.jpgHow Does It Work?

When the light in the stream strikes the boundary between the water and air, much of the light is reflected back into the stream. The light continues this internal reflection all along the arc formed by the falling water. The same principle is used to transmit light signals through flexible optical fibers.


Reading Through an Envelope

readingthruenv1jb2.jpgWith a black felt-tip pen, write a three-letter word in large letters on a white piece of paper. Place the paper in a brown envelope, and insert that envelope into a white envelope. The writing on the paper should now be impossible to read.

Get a piece of dark construction paper or tear out a page from a magazine that is printed on both sides. Roll up the paper into a four-inch-long tube. When you hold the tube against the envelope, you’ll be able to read the writing inside.

 

readingthruenv2jb2.jpgHow Does It Work?

Usually you can’t read the writing inside an envelope because of the light reflected off the envelope’s white surface. But the tube blocks that reflected light, so you see only the light coming through the envelope.


Egg Into Bottle

eggthrubottle1jb2.jpgFind a glass bottle that has a mouth slightly smaller in diameter than an egg. Pour some hot water into the bottle (be careful!), shake it vigorously and empty the water.

Peel a soft-boiled egg and place it on the mouth of the bottle. Leave it there for a while and it will get sucked inside.

 

eggthrubottle2jb2.jpgHow Does It Work?

The vapor from the hot water drives the air out of the bottle. Once the egg seals the top of the bottle, the air can’t get back in. As the water vapor cools, it turns back into water, causing the pressure inside the bottle to drop. The higher pressure of the outside air pushes the egg into the bottle.


Toothpick Torpedo

toothpicktorpedo1jb2.jpgDab a little shampoo on the blunt end of a wooden toothpick.

Drop the toothpick in a pan of water. The toothpick will start moving in the direction of the sharp end.

 

toothpicktorpedo2jb2.jpgHow Does It Work?

Shampoo contains agents that reduce the surface tension of liquids. As the shampoo on the end of the toothpick dissolves, it reduces the water’s surface tension around it, thus releasing the water’s hold on that end of the toothpick. The water around the other end of the toothpick still has surface tension, so it pulls the toothpick in that direction.


To learn more amazing science tricks, check out the book “Amazing Science Tricks” by Michio Goto

55 Comments on Amazing Science Tricks with Common Household Items

  1. Roses are rose // March 16, 2021 at 11:31 pm // Reply

    Thank you so much. These are easy and fantastic. I am doing these in my talent show. Can’t wait.

  2. Very helpful thank you very much.

  3. Thank u for putting this online. It really helped me get an idea for our Science Buskers Competition.

  4. THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH YOU DONT HOW MUCH THIS HELPED ME 😭

  5. cool

  6. There has to be more………

  7. Amazing

  8. These are all simple and awesome!

  9. Bob's Sister // October 7, 2020 at 3:54 pm // Reply

    good job

  10. SO TRUE

  11. wow

  12. what kind of shampoo do we need to use for the toothpick torpedo trick?

  13. Awesome, these are really cool and fun to try.

  14. Fantastic

  15. L0ND0N C4P // March 29, 2020 at 8:48 pm // Reply

    C00l magic tricks.

  16. I shall have a blast with it!!!!
    I’ll try… keeping water separate!!!! It will be messy but its always cleanable. I’ll just do it over the sink

    • How come this isn’t on girls life we are interested on it too and we don’t just do stupid things when we are bored we want to try these out many girls won’t see this so change it

  17. Dog luver 🐕 ❤️ // January 30, 2020 at 11:39 am // Reply

    Awesome!!! The toothpick trick really works! I was a little skeptical at first, but it worked! 😄 🤨

  18. nice

  19. Wonderful i love it

  20. Its lovely and helpfull for
    Experiments.

  21. This is cool because now i know science is fun and interesting

  22. Fantastic

  23. That was awesome 😍 💕 ❤ 😘 💕 ❤

  24. Fantastic

  25. Super Peachy // May 8, 2019 at 4:06 am // Reply

    AWESOME !!!
    It actually works !!!

  26. i love it
    great and stay

    AWESOME

  27. depressed child // December 5, 2018 at 12:22 pm // Reply

    i like to try one of these tricks one day. if my parents let me

  28. Cool Stuff

  29. i like it

  30. Awesome experiments

  31. COOL I LOVE THIS

  32. All are nice but i want more

  33. i love this trick

  34. Its good, wow!

  35. nicco bellic // July 9, 2017 at 10:19 am // Reply

    Thi was the best science tricks website ….. like it……

  36. IT WAS AMAZING PROBABLY THE MOST GREATEST THING EUER

  37. Anonymous // May 28, 2017 at 5:44 am // Reply

    Good

  38. It was a wonderful experience

  39. all r very well but I want little more

  40. sabhana afsheen // April 10, 2017 at 4:05 am // Reply

    interesting facts !!!!!!!!!!!

  41. It’s amazing..!!! i really like it:-)

  42. amaziing….thankzz alot

  43. Tha was very good the egg realy went in the bottle 10x good then that

  44. wow…… It was so nice i will use it in my science project

  45. sooper amazing

  46. blackforest.. // October 12, 2016 at 5:50 pm // Reply

    what a beautiful and excelent experiment..thanks a lot….

  47. I like it very much. It is very helpful for my science fair.

  48. best experiments i have ever seen

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